We were out riding this weekend with all the family. By brother was on the wakeboard and his wife and son were in the bow. She moved away for a second to grab her sunglasses and before I could even do anything my nephew fell directly over the center of the boat. I shut the boat down and got sick even thinking of looking over the back of the boat not knowing what i was going to find. My nephew was about 20 feet behind the boat laughing. Not a scratch on him. I have since decided no kids under 10 are allowed in the front of the boat anymore. I dont know how common it is for kids falling out of boats but this was definitely an eye opener for me. My sis in law only turned her head for a sec and almost lost a son.

It is truly a miricale that your nephew wasn't harmed. I'm glad it worked out that way and that we aren't reading something far more sad.

Last week there was an I/O pulling a rider in my cove with 2 young kids in the bow. The rider falls and the driver power turns while one of the kids is leaning over the bow trying to touch the water. It was an accident waiting to happen, but fortunately it didn't.

I am really amazed that there is not a required boater safety course/boating license in Texas. I see stuff like that every single week during the summer.

The Nautique key pad on my dash with the large STOP button is Awesome IMO for just sutch a accident. In my boat I know Exactley where the O crap button is it's when I get into a diffrent boat I have to remember where to rush for the key.

IMO if that exact thing happend to me I would think the Stop or Key off depending on how fast you got it into neutral would be a way better option than Reverse or Neutral. I guess what ever you can get to the fastest to stop the prop from spinning, Its just weird how Fast your day can turn from fun in the sun to somthing so serious

I agree, I am amazed that the child wasn't hurt. Someone was watching over him.

Personally, I think I would have had to change my shorts after that and then take the time to clean up the vomit.

For some reason I image that my youngest child doing the same but he has been great so far this year. I guess it's a mind stimuli thing for children to watch water being plowed away from the hull of the boat.

Richard wrote: "Last week there was an I/O pulling a rider in my cove with 2 young kids in the bow. The rider falls and the driver power turns while one of the kids is leaning over the bow trying to touch the water. It was an accident waiting to happen, but fortunately it didn't."

Very similar thing happened a few years ago but on a wakeboard boat and sadly the child fell out and was struck by the boat and the propeller. There was a laswuit about the safety of the boat which I believe was settled. The real tragedy is that the child was killed and the accident could have easily been prevented with closer supervision. All parties involved in the incident are now turned off to boating.

I think everyone needs to take a good look at their propeller and remind themselves that one of their greatest joys can turn into a life-shattering experience in less than a second.

My friends always bust my balls because I'm such a hard ass on the boat with safety rules like all kids having their butts on the seat cushion, but it's just this one in 1000 situation that I don't want to be a part of.

I know from experience that watching someone get run over will definitely change your life. After seeing a buddy go under a boat, my only thought was that I hope he's still alive. Luckily, he came out with just bumps and bruises, but I don't know how.

However, the experience got us all talking about what the best course of action would be in such a situation. We came to the conclusion that shutting down the engine without taking it out of gear would probably yield the best results and would take the least amount of time. I would think that leaving the boat in gear would cause the prop to stop spinning significantly because the engine has stopped spinning and since it's still in gear the prop should follow what the engine is doing.

Had this happen with an 11 year old a couple years ago. The boarder fell and as I was turning my buddy's son stood up to do the Titanic deal with the arms out... (the kid has been in a boat since he was a baby, so I don't know what he was thinking) He went over and directly under the boat. I watched it happen and shut the boat down. He was back behind the boat about 30 ft. I jumped in and grabed him, pulled him back to the boat and on the swim step. He had a 1.5 inch cut starting at his hair line. We figured after everything was over that a scag got him as the boat went over. I still wake up with nightmares and feel sick writing this right now. I've never liked people sitting up front for visibility reasons and rarely let people up their now. Glad to hear this little guy was not injured, good luck with it all Trevor, those feelings won't go away any time soon. JT

Accidents like this happen all the time. We just dont hear of all of them. We had an accident when we were kids. My buddies older (16) sister was sitting the the front of the boat. We were pulling her boyfriend, he fell, the wheel was cut and there she went over the side, luckily the motor popped her in the arm and broke it. Boy were we scared and learned a very good lesson, we were only 13-14. Kids in my boat always have butt down as well. Until you can back up your reasons with real life experiences people usually think otherwise. If it was you or your kid, you would think the same way I do. Make them little buggers sit their butts down, it could save their life one day.

stopping a prop while the boat is still moving is like stopping the tires on a car that is going 20 mph. getting off the gas is probably the only thing you'll have time to do, if that. it doesn't take long to travel 20-24' at 20mph.

The prop is not going to stop fully, but if you simply put it into neutral, it would seem like it would continue to spin at a higher rate than if you shut off the engine with it in gear. Engine stops, transmission stops spinning, prop stops spinning. Maybe I'm crazy, but it makes sense to me. Has anyone tried manually spinning the prop with the engine off and the boat in gear?

You can still spin it. The way the tranny works is fluid pressure engage the clutch pads. I learned this last week rebuilding my tranny. The tranny was accidently in gear when I was putting on the prop shaft bolts and I had to spin it to get all 4 in. I think either way it would take the same time for the prop to stop spinning. The more I think about it tho even with the best/fastest reaction time to hit neutral or turn the key the person would alreadhy be past the back of the boat. It all happened in a split second to me.

This happened to me. I was run over, got struck, had a cut on my hand and a broken arm. Very luckily all I have to show for it is a gripping story and a piece of metal in my arm. I came within a nat's hair of death and used at least several of my nine lives that day. Been around boats all my life and you never think it's going to happen to you because you are careful, experienced, etc. But you just can't be too careful. I don't think about the incident often anymore but I get woozy with hot flashes on the back of my neck every time I read something like this.

I don't think it's a matter of just getting the power shut off. I'm pretty sure that while at speed, even if you kill the motor or get the boat in neutral, just the water spinning the prop is going to cause big problems.

So glad things turned out OK Trevor. Use it to remember and tell others about safety.

I agree with Salty, unless you are at idle speed, there isn't much the driver can do once someone is overboard. At 20MPH, you travel 29.3 feet per second, and that gives you about .68 seconds to get the prop stopped, and it is less than a 0.5 a seconds at 25MPH. I don't think it is mechanically possible to get a prop from 1000s of RPMs to zero in that short of a time span, irrespective of hitting the ignition kill or getting it in neutral. Much less consider that it would be unlikely that a driver would be able to react in that short of a time span under normal conditions.

Obviously prevention is the key. Once overboard it is much more a matter of luck what happens.

I have been run over by a boat before, in fact it was my own brand new boat, first weekend on the water.

My buddy had been driving me for 3 summers on our old boat. I bought a new one and we took it out to go riding. It was somewhat crowded that weekend. I fall and he turns around to come get me. The rocks were on one side and an oncoming boat on the other. So, he comes STRAIGHT at me (luckily at an idle speed). I don't know what he was thinking, he just froze and didn't know what to do.

As the front of the boat hits me, I push off of it and get pushed upside down. The board is still on my feet and all I know to do is swim as hard as I can toward the bottom of the lake. I felt the board hit underneath the boat, but nothing else happened.

As I came up gasping for air, I looked at him and said "What the hell were you doing?" He was still frozen. He didn't know what to say and felt bad. He sat in the front of the boat the rest of the day and was very quiet. There were 5 others in the boat that all gave him hell right when it happened. Luckily he turned off the boat as he was going over me.

To this day, I don't understand what made him freeze like that considering he had always done a great job driving the boat. No alcohol was involved, but it sure did wake our butts up that day! I feel lucky.

I'm not suggesting you were, but I know a lot of people who have one or two beers while boating. Instantly, combine an injury/fatality from a child falling over-board with one or two beers and a fella is looking at some serious jail time. Scary equation from any angle.

AtTheLake, Awesome analysis! my thoughts exactly. The average person's reaction time to a unique situation is .75 seconds. Clearly, the child would be behind the boat before the average person would start to react.

These are some of the craziest and scary stories I've ever heard. These are what nightmares are made of I can't even imagine what was going through your guys heads when these events were taking place. I think I would literally loose it.

This is a good case for wearing the safety lanyard on your wrist, oh sh!* moment can have the engine cut as fast as your can move your hand away. The prop would still be turning, but that extra 0.4 of second might make the difference! I agree, kids butts on cushions, no leaning over to touch the water, hands in, even while idleing!

This is a good case for wearing the safety lanyard on your wrist, oh sh!* moment can have the engine cut as fast as your can move your hand away. The prop would still be turning, but that extra 0.4 of second might make the difference! I agree, kids butts on cushions, no leaning over to touch the water, hands in, even while idling!

Just to clear it up for Craig, I was not drinking. I dont nor will I let anyone drive the boat after drinking. Like you said 1-2 beers and something uncontrollable happens and life changes drasticly. Not to mention if I ever got a DUI I would lose my job so its just not worth it for me.

GLAD to hear a happy ending to this story...butts in seats on our boat, NO kids in bow and YES I reserve the right to yell at/discipline yours and my kids for not sitting while in motion!

Another one that scares the $&!t outta me is when people are pulling their boats up the ramp and kids are playing in the bow area, if one of those kids fell off they would be crushed by 4000lbs+ of boat and trailer...and I see it almost EVERYTIME I go to the lake...uggghhhhh, makes me sick just thinkin about it!

I always slow the boat down gently when someone falls let the rollers go past then slowly come around to my rider. Would not have helped in this situation and I ride on a smaller lake with less traffic than lots of you so less need to get back and protect my rider. It keeps people from falling out due to hard turns etc. This is a scarey situation I have twins and my wife is a nazi when it comes to someone holding them in their spot when riding. I do like the idea of no one under 10 in the bow.

"I'm the Daddy, thats why." The kids and adults don't even question the authority. lol. My friends don't either, but they're the same way. Whoever has the Con is in charge. Safety 1st. I will yell at will, even when it comes to the wake. If I tell your fat ars to move over 6 inches to clean up the wake, that means now! lol

Really glad to hear that nobody was hurt there, considering the potential for harm. I agree with the "anything can happen" mentality. I almost lost a leg Friday when my mom turned our I/O boat on while I was still sitting on the back doing up my board. I felt fully justified in at her then, and will not let her drive the boat for me again. Heads up, and safety first.

I have to ask.. Why were you turning so damn fast? I see people all the time turning like a speed demon to pick up a fallen rider. Just come off plane, then turn. Speed back up after the turn if needed to "protect" said rider from "boat traffic". All speed turning does is create more chop on the lake...

HOWEVER, I'm glad little dude is A-okay. I'm sure it was a scary feeling. (My son is 3.5 yrs old)